I understand the argument, but in the absence of any data we'll just be trading anecdotes. Take, for example, The Walking Dead: a purely story-driven single pl

I understand the argument, but in the absence of any data we'll just be trading anecdotes. Take, for example, The Walking Dead: a purely story-driven single player game that would be the perfect candidate to watch instead of play. I bought it because I saw my girlfriend watching some let's play videos of it, and I thought it looked great - I hadn't even heard of it before. That might just be my instinct - when I'm watching someone having fun, I want to participate and have fun too. I suspect many people watch these videos semi-passively while doing something else, which does not necessarily translate into a lost sale. If anything it's hurting TV. If some games are a lot more fun to watch than to actually play for a significant proportion of its potential player base, then I would argue that's a problem with the game itself. It's possible that "let's play" videos might actually push the industry to make better games. Overall my guess would be these videos are either neutral for the industry as a whole, or actively helpful by increasing exposure to games and creating stronger gaming communities.